Tek Net Read Online Free PDF Page B

pissed off. Then you’d better watch out.”
    Jake grinned. “Thanks for the warning,” he said, and went back inside the café.
    They were settling into their booth and Gomez was reaching for his nearcaf mug, when Jake’s pocket phone buzzed.
    â€œYeah?”
    Bascom’s scowling face appeared on the tiny screen. “Is Gomez with you?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œI want to see you two buffoons in my office.”
    â€œWe’ll be dropping in first thing in the morning, chief,” Jake assured him.
    â€œYou’ll be dropping in within the next half hour,” corrected the head of the Cosmos Detective Agency. “If not sooner.”

7
    Dawn was moving slowly into Greater Los Angeles and the fog was gradually thinning away. Walt Bascom was standing gazing out of one of the high, wide windows when Gomez and Jake entered his office in Tower II of the Cosmos Detective Agency Building. He had his hands clasped behind his back.
    â€œWhat does he remind you of?” Gomez asked his partner, settling into a chair facing the agency chief’s large metal desk.
    â€œOne of those heroic statues they used to put up in public parks in centuries gone by?” Jake straddled a chair.
    â€œNo, it’s more like a wooden figurehead on an ancient ship that—”
    â€œWhen you two clowns end your detecting careers—which could be any day now,” said Bascom, turning to glower at them, “you can work up this sort of witty patter into an act for the vidwall.”
    Jake grinned. “You know, Sid, for a while there I was starting to think he was mellowing.”
    â€œ Sí , so did I. But this is the old gruff martinet we’ve come to love and cherish.”
    Bascom, slowly and precisely, came walking back to his desk. He was a tan, wrinkled man in his fifties and at the moment, his deep scowl added substantial new wrinkles to the large collection he already had. “Tell me, lads, are you intending to go into the private gumshoe business on your own?”
    â€œOur loyalty is to Cosmos,” Jake assured him.
    Gomez said, “I’ve been thinking of having Cosmos Forever tattooed on my—”
    â€œWell, if you’re still working for me ,” said the chief, voice rising, “then why in the holy hell didn’t you let me know the minute you found out Jill Bernardino had been kidnapped?”
    â€œIt started out as a sort of personal thing, jefe . Jill’s an ex-wife of mine and—”
    â€œI know who she is, for Christ sake, Sid,” said Bascom. “Didn’t I help you bail her out of the pokey at least half a dozen times during your days of wedded bliss?”
    â€œSure, but still I—”
    â€œMore importantly,” continued the agency boss, “there is a Tek angle to all this.” He leaned forward, resting his palms flat out on the desktop. “I’ve got a hunch your onetime mate’s disappearance may just connect with some of the interesting rumors that have been finding their way to me in recent days.”
    â€œ Qué pasa? ” Gomez straightened up in his chair, watching Bascom.
    â€œNobody has many details as yet, but it seems that certain potent European Tek cartels have something large and unsavory in the works.”
    â€œYeah, that fits in with what we’ve been picking up tonight,” Jake told him. “The odds are that one or more European Tek outfits are involved in whatever’s happened to Jill.”
    â€œAnd we’ve also been hearing about some large-scale Tek venture starting up overseas,” added Gomez.
    Bascom seated himself, steepling his fingers. “It’s likely that Jill stumbled on some facts about this latest Tek shenanigan while doing her research on the Sonny Hokori documovie.”
    â€œYou already know about the Hokori project, huh?” said Jake.
    â€œWhen will you toddlers accept the fact that I’m infallible and